When "American Juniors" premiered in early June, it looked as if the magic of its "American Idol" sibling had spread. The kiddie variety show attracted nearly 12 million viewers. By the time it reached its finale on Tuesday, Aug. 19, those numbers were down to just over five million. On Thursday (Aug. 28), as had long been expected, FOX confirmed that "American Juniors" won't return to the network's schedule in late fall.

According to FOX execs, the decision not to bring "American Juniors" back was made by the show's production companies, FreemantleMedia and 19 Entertainment. The production team is busy at work on the next season of England's "Pop Idol" as well as making plans for the third installment of "American Idol," which will launch on FOX early next year.

FreemantleMedia and 19 Entertainment are also at work on "World Idol," which will be a two-hour showcase competition between the winners of all of the different international permutations of "Idol." While it has yet to be determined if FOX will air that "World Idol" special, a FOX exec tells Zap2it.com that there's a "good chance."

This leaves FOX will a minor dilemma of what to do with the 8 p.m. Tuesday timeslot set aside for "American Juniors." Fortunately, it's only a temporary problem. "Juniors" had been scheduled to premiere for an six-week accelerated season on Oct. 28, leading into the commercial-free premiere of "24." Instead, the network will have to scramble to find a suitable lead-in, despite "24's" reputation as a self-starter.

One possibility may be the Paris Hilton reality series "Simple Life," which was supposed to begin this summer, but was pushed back due to perceived excitement by reporters at the Television Critics Association press tour.

FOX has not ruled out the possibility that "American Juniors" might return next summer.